OVER a third of UK parents are calling for gardening to become part of the school curriculum.

With recent news highlighting the UK’s ‘vegetable rations’, and suggested fruit and veg increase to ‘10 a day’, educating the next generation of green-fingered growers is more important than ever.

According to a new survey, over 90% of parents think the best way for children to learn about eating healthily is by getting outside to learn about nature and by growing their own fruit and veg.

innocent drinks, who carried out the survey, has partnered with not-for-profit organisation GIY (Grow-It-Yourself) to launch this year’s Sow & Grow campaign, which will reach a ¼ of all UK primary schools to get children engaged in healthy eating.

Michael Kelly, founder of social enterprise GIY said: “It’s a fact that food growers have a better understanding of nutrition and eat more fruit and veg. And, we know from the research that 84% or parents believe children would be more open to eating fruit and veg if they knew where their food came from.

“We want to give schools the tools and resources they need to get growing. That’s why we have launched our campaign, to inspire UK primary schools and kids to get back to basics – get outside, stick their hands in some soil and learn about the benefits of healthy eating.”

Hannah Wright, teacher at Horsenden Primary in Greenford said: “There are currently no resources or funding available to most state-maintained schools for gardening education. Plus, we have no time in the school day as growing is not required under the National Curriculum.

“We regularly used to find that children were unable to tell us where their food had come from – it was not unusual for children to tell us that fruit and vegetables come from “the supermarket” or “factories”. As winners of Sow and Grow 2016, we were lucky enough to start our own little growing project in the classroom – it instantly ignited the children’s interest and they were keen to eat and try the things they’d grown. Introducing gardening has made a really positive impact to both education and nutrition at our school.”

Sim Viney, Brand Manager at innocent said: “We know that children who grow their own food are more likely to eat fruit and veg, and that kids who develop healthy habits at a young age are more likely to become healthy adults. At the moment 9 out of 10 young people are not getting their 5-a-day, so we’ve started a campaign called Sow & Grow, which will get a quarter of all primary school kids growing veg in their classrooms, and learning where their food comes from. We’re hoping the campaign itself will grow in future years – our ultimate goal is to get every primary school child in the country to experience growing their own veg.”

Is your school signed up to #sowandgrowUK? If so then upload your photos at https://innocentsowandgrow.com/ to be in with the chance to win monthly prizes from innocent and see your classroom crowned as Sow & Grow champions!

Following the repackage of innocent kids drinks, consumers can also win seed packs by following the instructions on pack. They’re available nationwide now in most major supermarkets.